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for tell about type 1 diabetes (and celiac)(and LADA)

PLGS

It’s not so much that I’m in love with this algorithm as much as I think it might be in love with me. It seems like the kind of algorithm that might line-dry my sheets and greet me with a cocktail, while making me some kind of toastie sandwich in a panini press I didn’t even know I had.

I so admire this algorithm’s restraint. I thought it would be dumber and more herky-jerky, but it turns out I was thinking of me not of engineering. Also, I thought the special feature would probably not kick in that often, like maybe only when Bubs was low or thisclose to being low. That is not how this works.

When he got home from school, Bubs gave me a look at the screen.

Do these red bars make my basal program look fat?

The algorithm suspends basal, not when things are already nearly low, but—gah, it’s right there in the name!—when they’re predicted to be low. And then the algorithm resumes basal, as soon as things start angling up, instead of waiting for a safety cushion of highness. The algorithm is chill. The algorithm is like, it’s on, it’s off. No biggie.

The algorithm does not suspend for <100 mg/dL & straight arrow, to try to nudge things toward the target. I admire that. If he’s super low (yesterday saw a 60 mg/dL), the algorithm does not freak out. For example, it would never continue suspending until it sees double arrows up. Instead, it notices things heading slightly up and resumes, even if the BG is still low. The algorithm is a freaking virtuoso.

This picture was taken at the same time, a three-hour view. 124 mg/dL, arrow straight down and the basal had already been suspended for what looks like about 12 minutes, about the time it takes Bubs to ride home from school. It started suspending when he was around 150 mg/dL. Isn’t that beautiful?

124, arrow down, basal suspended, and having an after school snack (with normal bolus)(+I may have snuck in a few peanut butter m&m’s) = everything’s alright.

I was oohing and ahhing over all of this and Bubs was like I know, right? And look at this…

It also holds a phone perfectly.

We have 2.5 more weeks with this gorgeous math, and then it will be back to normal (still a nice insulin pump/phone stand) until the software is…what? FDA approved? Commercially available? The timeline says Summer 2018.